


Two Riders, Two Deaths

by Gris



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: HabiPrayerCircle4Gold, M/M, knife shoes appreciation society, this turned out a lot more angsty than i intended, yall let's hope this works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 11:12:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17487050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gris/pseuds/Gris
Summary: Yuzuru can't choose between his kingdom and his love, but he has to.





	Two Riders, Two Deaths

**Author's Note:**

> Well would you look at that, another fic of Javi dying. If he doesn't win gold at Euro's he's been putting us through this pain for nothing. so *wink*

Javier cuts an imposing figure, clad in his full-body armour forged of black steel, a sword of the same color resting in his right hand and a dragon the shade of the night sky at his left.

 

Javier is now raising that very sword up, pointing it at across the empty space between them at Yuzuru, who is standing on the other side of the high plateau with his own dragon, as if to mockingly say: “You’re dead already. What. Did you think you could escape my blade?”

 

Yuzuru hadn’t been trying to escape the war, per se, when he and Winnie had taken it upon themselves to search for the last remaining dragon eggs on the outer bounds of Alagaesia all those months ago. But then Javier had shown up, weeks after having been taken from Yuzuru’s side, with a dragon of his own, deep pain in his soft brown eyes, and bound to serve the king by dark magic. Yuzuru had been confused, at first. How could the king have known that the dragon would hatch for Javier? Then Yuzuru had realized that Javier hadn’t even been kidnapped for the purpose of becoming a Rider. That had only been a practical coincidence. The king had taken Javier to break Yuzuru. Yuzuru had desperately tried to think of a way to help Javier. To free him of the clutches of the king and return him to his side where he belonged. And then he had remembered the prophecy.

 

Satoko the witch had prophesied this to him when he was a child, before he even knew of Javier’s existence, before he knew his gentle soul, before they had become fast friends - and possibly something more, that Yuzuru would one fateful day face another Rider, a dear friend turned enemy, as an equal, and only one of the two would be left standing. So Yuzuru and Winnie had run.

 

Yuzuru had thought that what he needed was time, to figure out how to overpower Javier without killing him, to give Yuzuru and Zhenya a chance to find the magic that could free him from his oath to the king. But Yuzuru saw now that there was no saving Javier or his dragon. There never had been. Satoko’s prophecies were absolute, and the more you tried to outrun them, the faster they caught up to you.

 

A sudden war had broken out between the Varden and the king, with Javier at the center of it, burning everyone in his way at the king’s behest, and Yuzuru had been forced to come back to aid the Varden.

 

This is how he’s ended up at the top of this plateau in the Burning Plains, a battle being waged around him, staring across at the love of his life as he physically struggles against obeying the order to cut Yuzuru down. Tears escape Yuzuru’s eyes, blurring his vision, and he wipes them away furiously. Winnie loweres her snout to Yuzuru’s temple, giving him support and sharing the pain.

 

_We don’t have a choice, little one. We have tried everything, now we need to accept our fate. We have a duty to this kingdom, to the Varden and our people._

 

_We haven’t tried killing the king._ Yuzuru replies feebly, but the dull realization of what he is about to do is settling in, like a bottomless pit sucking out the light around him.

 

Winnie doesn’t answer, but Yuzuru can feel how much this is hurting her, too.

 

Javier shouts across the plateau, in a magically amplified voice. “Come, Yuzuru. You can’t run from me forever. Let me show you how real Riders battle. Let me show you what the king has gifted me.” He brings the black sword down hard on a rock and sparks fly. A mad laugh escapes Javier’s mouth, and a shiver spreads accross Yuzuru’s skin. Even if he didn’t have to kill him, Javier would never be able to return to who he was. Javier has lost the mental battle against himself, there is no more resistance from him. The king has infected him with his dark magic and one does not come back from that, Yuzuru realizes hollowly. He wipes his cheeks with the back of his hand.

 

Yuzuru takes a leap onto Winnie’s back and settles into the saddle. He hugs her long neck from behind and kisses her warm scales -as much to comfort her as to comfort himself, then he slides back down and unsheathes his sword. _Please don’t interfere. This is something I must do myself._

 

Winnie growls at Yuzuru, but he can feel compliance and understanding and love radiating from her, and he knows that he’s on his own now, against Javier.

 

Yuzuru starts stepping forward toward the center of the plateau, more confident than he feels when he’s certain that his heart won’t survive this fight, and he sees Javier do the same - his black dragon staying back. 

 

Yuzuru is under no illusions as to who will win this fight. Javier has only been a Rider for a few months - his dragon is a lot smaller than Winnie, he hasn’t had Rider training in Ellesmera, and he wasn’t born amongst the elves, like Yuzuru. He doesn’t stand a chance. But that is not what the king wants. He wants to crush Yuzuru, and he will. He will make them both break, Javi and him, before one of them dies.

 

Javier raises his hand, “Thrysta” he whispers hoarsely. He looks so heartbroken that Yuzuru freezes for a moment. A ball of energy flies through the air to hit Yuzuru squarely in the chest, and it sends him back twenty feet. He lands heavily on his back, the breath knocked out of him. He hears Winnie roar in pain.

 

Then he steels himself and gets up, sword in hand, and narrows his eyes. The warrior in him is back. In a single bound, Yuzuru leaps forward, thrusting the blade towards Javier’s right shoulder.

 

Javier parries and suddenly they’re chest to chest, trading blows. Javier rains a quick succession of heavy blows upon Yuzuru, but he dodges and blocks them. Then there’s an onslaught of attacks from Yuzuru, which Javier evades just as easily. He’s always been an excellent swordsman. Both of them are panting now, and Yuzuru stalls for a moment, his blade square against Javier’s. He looks him in the eye, trying to find another glimpse of the man that he loves.

 

“Why did you leave, Javi, why did you let yourself get caught! I could’ve protected you. I should have.”, he adds in a small voice.

 

Javier sneers at Yuzuru. “I didn’t have a _choice_. The king’s men kidnapped me.” He thrusts Yuzuru’s blade away from him and makes to strike again. Yuzuru circles his sword and brings it down. Javier parries once more.

 

“Why didn’t you stay with me, we could’ve avoided that!” Javier’s face is a blur to Yuzuru through his tears.

 

In a softer voice, Javier replies, looking him in the eyes. “I was becoming a distraction to you. You are the most important person in this kingdom, we need you to win this war. I couldn’t let you lose your focus. It’s not your fault, Yuzuru.”

 

_We. “_ But I needed _you_.”, Yuzuru screams. He leaps as high as he can in the air and moves to bring the sword down on Javier’s head, but before he even reaches him, a forceful spell hitsYuzuru midair and he falls to his knees, gasping in pain, his sword clattering a few feet away from him. He is seeing stars from the force of the impact and his ears are ringing. Never in a million years did he think Javi would overpower him like this. That he would let Javi win. Then a shadow blocks Yuzuru’s line of sight. 

 

Javier looks like he’s fighting every fiber of his own being as he lifts his sword in both hands, pointing it towards Yuzuru’s heart. Yuzuru knows what is about to happen, but strangely, he’s made his piece with it. One of them has to die, and he prefers it to be him.

He raises his hand up towards Javier, as if to touch his cheek, then let’s it fall back down. He smiles up at him blindingly.

 

“I love you.”

 

Javier draws in a shuddering breath. All the fight goes out of him and he lets himself drop to his knees in front of Yuzuru. He doesn’t hesitate for a second before handing Yuzuru his ebony blade by the hilt, then he draws the younger in for an agonizing embrace.

 

“The king’s magic is…. is preventing me from saying it back to you Yuzuru, but I can say this instead. Please. Kill me, do it now, while I can still fight back. The last thing I want to do is kill you, so… Please.”

 

Yuzuru is sobbing now, but he extracts himself from Javier’s arms, resting a hand on his cheek for a heartbeat, before moving to stand before his friend. _Please forgive me._ He whispers in the Ancient Language. Then he thrusts the blade through Javier’s chest with a scream.

 

Before Javier hits the ground, Yuzuru has already scooped him up in his arms. He presses a damp kiss to Javier’s forehead, his temple, the corner of his mouth. Then he collapses on Javier’s chest, where the blood is already pooling, and cries into his neck. He can feel the deep gurgling in Javi’s chest with his elven senses and a fresh wave of tears comes up.

 

“I can’t do this without you. I don’t know how…” Yuzuru bawls.

 

“Shhh. Shh. Of course you can. You’re Yuzuru Hanyu. And I will always be with you. You have my heart.” Javier’s voice is hoarse, and soft, but Yuzuru can make out the words easily.

 

“My dragon, Effie. Please make sure she…” Javier struggles to speak, a trickle of blood comes out the side of his open mouth. “…don’t let her feel this pain. Take it away.”

 

Yuzuru shakes his head violently and his tears fly everywhere, he doesn’t want to leave Javier’s side right now. But he gets up from his knees, blindly, and stumbles over to Javier’s dragon, _Effie,_ he remembers. He puts both hands on her shimmering form. _She is already fading._ Yuzuru murmurs a word that will put her to sleep. She will die peacefully.

 

When he returns to Javier, the light has gone out of his eyes.

 

Yuzuru clings to Javier’s face, his shoulders, he takes his hands as sobs wreck his body. He can’t do this alone.

 

_You’re not alone, little one._

 

Yuzuru’s never been so thankful to Winnie in his life.

At some point, Zhenya and her elven entourage come running

He’s dimly aware of Zhenya using _Waise Heill_ on him in an attempt to heal his injuries, but it must not work, because the pain is still there, and he doesn’t think it will leave anytime soon.

 

Yuzuru stays with Javi until the sun goes down and his body grows cold. Winnie folds her wings over the both of them. At some point, the battle raging around them is over.

 

They had won today, but he had lost.


End file.
